As Cill Rialaig—the artist’s retreat on the beautiful and rugged Ballinskelligs Peninsula―celebrates twenty-years in existence I can’t help thinking about my lamb. We first became acquainted when I arrived for a fortnight’s stay in what was once an Irish famine village but has become a favourite haunt for artists and the occasional writer, like myself. Tiny and orphaned, standing on skinny, determined legs, my lamb greeted me with a bleat when I pulled up outside my allocated

My first experience of using a Kindle occurred recently when I was asked to read a psalm during a wedding service. Until then – being in love with the feel of paper and ink – I was reluctant to forego the pleasure of turning a new page and closing the covers at the end of a satisfying read. The Kindle was handed to me by its owner with the psalm clearly visible. Just before I was about to mount the lectern to deliver the psalm I glanced down at the Kindle. The words had disap

My first book was written for children. I had a young family at the time and I followed a natural inclination to write down the stories that flowed so easily from my imagination. Until then, most of these stories were verbal, created to make bedtime easier but they were forgotten by morning. All that remained were fragment of what might have become a book if I had taken the trouble to write the story down. Finally that was what I decided to do. That first book was soon follow

My name is Laura Elliot and I live beside an estuary. Broad as its name suggests, moody as the seasons demand, the Broadmeadow Estuary has been a constant source of pleasure since the first time I walked along its shore. It spreads outwards from a river that flows through channels of reeds and tall grasses to reach its final destination. The estuary then travels onward and outward towards a distant viaduct that spills it into the sea at Malahide. In the spring it can lie as